The talks are based on an agreement reached at the last meeting of JCPOA Joint Commission, in which, representatives of the participating countries emphasized the priority of the removal of illegal and oppressive sanctions imposed by the United States against Iran.

Over the past days, these bilateral and multilateral meetings focused on setting frameworks, indicators and criteria for verifying the removal of sanctions and guaranteeing that the US illegal actions would not be repeated.

The Vienna talks are being pursued as the vast majority of the negotiating teams agree on the progress made in reaching the final agreement in the ongoing talks on removing sanctions.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in an interview with Al Jazeera on Thursday emphasized, “We seek removal of sanctions that were imposed on Iran by [former US President Donald] Trump, especially those sanctions that are at odds with the [2015] nuclear deal [officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)].”

Amir-Abdollahian added, “We also want guarantees that no new sanctions will be imposed and that the existing sanctions will not be reimposed once they are removed.”

Iran’s foreign minister noted that Iran and the United States are exchanging unofficial messages in Vienna in order to facilitate the ongoing talks, saying, “We hear good words from Americans in Vienna, but what is important is to see them taking serious steps.”

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